The flight from Middleheim to Essen should have taken a few hours, even at the low Mach 10 speed of my slow Dragon.

But every 10 minutes or so, we would need to descend and aid a caravan under attack, then a Witch Hunter fighting an ugly Strigoi, then adventurers fighting Beastmen in the Great Forest, more adventurers daring to search in the Dead Wood and fighting mutants, more trade caravans attacked by zombies and ghouls, a Hedge Wizard being chased by a huge boar, a Slayer Dwarf losing to a Vampire Lord, more caravans, some Roadwardens fighting forest goblins, and a dozen more encounters like that. And not a big loot pile either.

I looked at Janna with a suspicious glance as we approached Essen and saw the town being besieged by Orcs. Maybe the High Wizard gave me this woman to get rid of a jinx.

"It is not me! I bring fortune to those in my party!" the Celestial Wizard claimed as I drew out my big club.

Nevermind then. Orcs should have a lot of metal with them, being quite the enterprising looters and pillagers of this world.

First thing, a pass around the walls to clear the ladders and give the garrison some support and rest.

Then another pass, pasting the siege engine crews in the back such that my city wouldn't get burned to a crisp.

And then, land in the middle of the Orc army and begin my aikido training in the earnest. The crazy weapons of the Orcs with their spikes and unlikely shapes made the training more difficult, but also more rewarding. Especially since I made my purpose into only using the weapon of the enemy for their kill, and give the Unbreakable some rest.

That Strigoi had already nicked my club once more, although I shouldn't have smacked him in the face. Magic fangs, probably.

It took me another hour, but in the end only the Orc Boss remained, some 3 meters tall and made of giant muscles.

'' 'Uman 'ero, are ya?" the Orc asked with bad grammar, while hefting a huge axe, glowing with Dwarf runes. Maybe his huge tusks made speaking harder?

"Where did you find that axe?" I asked back in a calm voice.

"The Skull-crumper? Over at the stunty' fortress in the Bad Lands. Past the Tsar boys..." The Orc explained with a vague direction towards Kislev.

Worth taking a look, if more Runefangs could be found in another fallen Dwarf hold.

"Great, I'll go visit the place and look for treasure...but until then, I'll take this axe." I explained in a polite voice while moving forward.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The Orc Boss reacted as expected, slicing at me with enough force to fell a dozen trees, only to find his wrist redirecting his axe at his own neck, and losing his head.

Taking the axe for myself, I sliced the air a bit, but no game menu popped-out. Not every runic weapon was a Legendary one.

A gleam of light caught my eye, and I sliced the Orc's ear off to reveal an amber-studded earring.

*Congratulations

-You have obtained a relic earring, formerly called Yellow Eye of Gork.

-Grants +10 Affinity to Ghur. Grants +10% Ward Save. Adds +10% weapon strength.

Okay, maybe Janna did bring me luck. I should take her with me on future raids.

Jet had landed beside me to start eating dead Orcs, since food was food. Word of advice, a Dragon is a hungry beast. Do not attempt to raise one if you can't provide food.

I shrugged then took the women in my arms and flew to Waldenhof at a better Mach 30 speed.

Introduce the new wives, deposit the loot, pick up Alana and Rivia and fly back. These two wives had healing spells, quite useful for repairing the garrison to full health.

Then fly back to my castle, and meet Anika before her blood froze to ice.

"My lovely wife. Did you miss me?" I asked gently, and took her in my arms.

"Worse than a pig. Man-pig!" She called out to me in an angry voice.

I kissed her neck and flew into the sky, before the entire castle heard her. "Anika, I am but a single man. When Chaos, and Skaven and the undead descend on our world, millions of people will die. Maybe all of them. I need to have many children, and grant them my magic. Maybe then, there's a chance..."

The Ice Maiden sighed and wrapped her hands around my neck. "A well-meaning man-pig?" she wondered in a rhetoric tone.

I kept flying until we reached the Wild Guard base in Ostermark. There, hundreds of blond kids and a hundred Norscan women were learning the woodcraft trade from my hunters. Norsca had few woods. "These are captives from Norsca. The women will give me a lot of strong kids. The orphans will fight in my Wild Guard. But even so, we will probably lose and everyone will die." I said in a soft, sad voice.

Anika turned towards me, eyes glowing with cold ice. "Norscans! Do you know what they do, when raiding in Kislev?" she growled in a hateful voice.

"I kinda do. I saw their work in Nordland and Ostland. But these kids will grow up in the Wild Guard. When they are ready, you could lead them to raid Norsca for women and more kids. Then Kurgan lands in the East of Kislev. I want to deny Chaos an easy recruiting ground, see?" I offered in a gentle voice.

Anika nodded slowly, although her eyes were still brimming with cold ice. "I see, husband. Your heart is even colder than mine. Frozen cold, as the Great Winter itself."

I sighed inward, since the truth was quite hurtful. But what could I do? The Empire had few people, and the Chaos would recruit the rest, especially those in Norsca and Kurgan. Better my way, than the alternative.

Anyways, after this Anika became more understanding, if also colder. Does it make sense? I wasn't good with women, so I don't know.

In her belly, Elsa was growing too, hopefully to become a frozen princess to ally us with Kislev.

Poor Kislev. As bad as local peasants had it in the Empire, those under the Tsar and his atamans had it much worse.

But since I was the Warden of the East, I mentally included Kislev under my protection too. Finish things in Sylvania, and then I could start on Kislev too.